Abstract

Background

Over 1200 plant species are reported in ethnobotanical studies for the treatment of
malaria and fevers, so it is important to prioritize plants for further development
of anti-malarials.

Methods

The “RITAM score” was designed to combine information from systematic literature searches
of published ethnobotanical studies and laboratory pharmacological studies of efficacy
and safety, in order to prioritize plants for further research. It was evaluated by
correlating it with the results of clinical trials.

Results and discussion

The laboratory efficacy score correlated with clinical parasite clearance (rs=0.7). The ethnobotanical component correlated weakly with clinical symptom clearance
but not with parasite clearance. The safety component was difficult to validate as
all plants entering clinical trials were generally considered safe, so there was no
clinical data on toxic plants.

Conclusion

The RITAM score (especially the efficacy and safety components) can be used as part
of the selection process for prioritising plants for further research as anti-malarial
drug candidates. The validation in this study was limited by the very small number
of available clinical studies, and the heterogeneity of patients included.